Many areas of shore line, particularly along the shore line of lakes, such as the Great Lakes, suffer from erosion. The principal cause of erosion is the wave energy of the water and the direction in which sand and other fines of the shore line tend to migrate. Another factor is the composition of the shore line soil itself.
This problem of shore line erosion is particularly severe on the Great Lakes due to the extremely high water level of these lakes, which high water level has existed for several years and apparently will continue to exist for a further substantial period of time. Since much of the shore line around the Great Lakes consists of sand or soil which easily erodes, the high water level has been causing gradual but rather rapid erosion of the shore line and has, in many areas, substantially destroyed the desirable sandy beaches which once existed. Further, the shore line in many areas along the Great Lakes consists of high sand bluffs, and homes and other structures are often built on the top of these bluffs relatively near the edge thereof so as to overlook the lake. The continued existence of the high water level in the Great Lakes, combined with the wave energy of the water, has resulted in the rapid erosion of the base of these sand bluffs. Thus, the bluffs in many areas are being rapidly destroyed, thereby resulting in the destruction of homes and other buildings constructed on the bluffs.
Many different types of piers and retaining walls have been constructed along the shore line in an attempt to prevent erosion of the type described above. However, most of these prior constructions have generally involved the use of structures constructed directly on the site, such as by requiring the sinking of piers or footings into the ground, as by pile driving, or by the constructing of caissons in the ground and by utilizing poured concrete or similarly fabricated steel structures which must be constructed directly at the job site. All of these prior wall constructions have thus been extremely costly due to the requirement that they be constructed directly on the job site. These known structures also often require the use of extremely costly and heavy-duty equipment, particularly since some operations are carried out in the water. Further, since the prior constructions have often required that the wall be anchored to the ground, such as by pilings or other buried footings, this thus makes installation of the wall difficult and costly.
Accordingly, the present invention provides an improved wall structure, particularly suitable for use as a sea wall, which will effectively inhibit shore line erosion and yet overcome the numerous above-mentioned disadvantages associated with known wall constructions. The present wall construction can also be desirably used as an earth retaining wall, a sound barrier, a spatial divider, fence or the like. Accordingly, it is an object to the present invention to provide:
1. A wall construction, as aforesaid, which is of a substantially zig-zag shape and can be positioned directly on a supporting surface in a self-supporting manner, such as directly on a beach when used as a sea wall so as to not require the use of piles or other footings.
2. A wall construction, as aforesaid, which is constructed from a plurality of prefabricated wall segments, which wall segments can be easily connected together into the desired shape directly at the job site.
3. A wall construction, as aforesaid, wherein the adjacent wall sections are connected solely by a substantially horizontal hinge structure which enables adjacent wall sections to pivotally move vertically relative to one another, thus enabling the wall construction to be positioned on a nonlevel supporting surface, with the permissible relative movement between the wall segements also permitting sufficient relative movement within the wall structure to compensate for changes in the supporting surface such as caused by freezing and thawing, while at the same time the wall structure possesses enough relative movement to minimize and equalize the forces imposed thereon, such as due to a collection of ice, to minimize, if not prevent, damage to the wall structure.
4. A wall construction, as aforesaid, wherein the zig-zag shape of the wall substantially breaks and distributes the force of the waves to minimize the force imposed on the wall.
5. A wall construction, as aforesaid, which due to its zig-zag shaped configuration is intended to minimize the general migration of sand along the beach line, which migration for example, occurs from a Northernly to a Southernly direction along Lake Michigan, thus tending to cause the sand to collect within the confines of the wall.
6. A wall construction, as aforesaid, which is of sufficient height to absorb the main force of the wave but which will enable sufficient spillover of the waves to enable some sand to collect in back of the wall to facilitate the build-up of beach behind the wall.
7. The wall construction, as aforesaid, which can be substantially entirely prefabricated so as to require very little job site preparation or job site assembly.
Other objects and purposes of the present invention will be apparent to persons acquainted with the art of this type upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.